Tourists hunker down as Storm Pabuk dumps heavy rains on Thailand

Tourists marooned on Thai islands hunkered down Friday as Tropical Storm Pabuk struck the kingdom, forcing airports and ferries to close and bringing power blackouts, heavy rains and massive sea swells.

But it caused damage along coastal areas and a power blackout in large swathes of Nakhon Si Thammarat and Surat Thani provinces, authorities said, as electricity poles toppled over in high winds and power lines were cut by falling trees.

Hundreds of people packed into evacuation centres after storm surges flooded low-lying areas while high winds of up to 75 kilometres an hour (45 miles) whipped through deserted streets.

“I’m worried because my house was flooded,” Preecha Kongthep told AFP late Friday from a shelter in the town of Nakhon Si Thammarat. I don’t know what it’s like now,” he added, as the rains outside slackened.

Earlier as Pabuk churned through the Gulf of Thailand, it stirred huge waves up to five metres high (16 feet).

Empty shops and beaches

A fisherman in Pattani province, near the Malaysia border, died after waves smashed into his boat before dawn on Friday as it returned to dock. Another crew member is missing.

They join the only other confirmed fatality from Pabuk so far – a Russian man who drowned off Koh Samui on Wednesday after ignoring warnings not to go into the sea.

By late Friday Pabuk – which means giant catfish in Lao – lost steam as it edged across the narrow neck of land between the Gulf of Thailand and into the Andaman Sea, home to the tourist resorts of Phuket and the Similan National Park, a diving paradise.